Betsy & I just got back from a wonderful weekend in Prague in the Czech Republic. I can honestly say that Prague is one of my favorite cities in the world that I have visited and Betsy feels the same way.
Taxis are notorious rip-offs in Prague so we figured it was easier to arrange a car through the hotel for the short 20 minute drive to downtown Prague.
Our hotel (
Hotel KK Central) was perfectly situated only a 5 minute walk to the Old Town Square one of the main meeting/eating areas around Prague. Our hotel was also very nice, nicer than our normal class of hotel that is for sure.
It was about 9:30pm when we arrived at the hotel and having not eaten dinner we decided to head out and explore the city a bit as well as find a place to eat. It was a nice warm night for walking around and we wandered down the cobblestone streets taking in the atmosphere around us. After perusing a number of menu's we decided to try an Italian restaurant called
Ambiente - Pasta Caffe. We followed the stair case down into the cellar of the building and finally reached the restaurant which was packed.
We managed to get a table and even in the Non-smoking section to boot. Suffice it to say this was one of the best Italian meals that we've had since moving to Europe. For an appetizer we shared Carpaccio w/Truffle, Truffle Oil & Parmesan. Betsy had Lasagna Bolognese and I had Rigatoni with Parma Ham, Cream and Parmesan Reggiano and both were excellent. Washed down with a couple of pints of Czech Pilsener and we were happy.
After dinner we wandered around the Old Town area a little bit before heading back to the hotel for the night.
Saturday morning we headed down for breakfast and were pleasantly surprised with the quantity & quality offered up to us. Rather than the usual European breakfast offered (consisting of stale croissants & danishes) we had a full buffet with eggs, bacon, sausages, fruit cheese, etc.
Our first stop Saturday after breakfast was Charles Bridge. This is a pedestrian only bridge that crosses the Vltava River which snakes through the city. It is a very pretty bridge with many statues mostly of a religious nature. The bridge is also very crowded with craft stalls and tourists which makes it tough to get a good picture.
We meandered our way up the hill to the Prague Castle, we wandered around the Castle and Royal Gardens for a couple of hours and then headed back down the hill to get some lunch. On the way down the hill we found our way to the Czech Parliament. They had some beautiful gardens and an interesting wall that can't really be described but you will see in pictures.
We wandered throught the Mala Strana area until we found a Czech pub that looked interesting. To be honest Czech food held little appeal for either of us. It is very meat and starch based not exactly what we like to eat on hot summer days but we decided to give it a shot. It was a cool little bar and food was adequate but not spectacular. I had a grilled chicken breast topped with sausage and cheese with french fries, sounds healthy doesn't it! Betsy stuck with the "vegetarian" salad which turned out to have grilled chicken on it! Good thing she isn't a vegetarian!
We headed back over the river and meandered our way through the alleyways back to our hotel for a much deserved rest.
The weather up to this point had been hot & humid but sunny. Late in the afternoon it started to cloud over and we could see thunderstorms brewing. We had intended on heading out about 6pm for some drinks and then dinner but hung out in the room til almost 8pm waiting for the storms to stop (which they finally did). The good news with that is I could surf the net and watch TSN's cybercast of the NHL Draft! GO CANUCKS GO!!!
We headed out a little uncertain as to what we wanted to eat and ended up at an Indian restaurant after wandering for awhile. The food turned out to be excellent! We had a lamb curry and a chicken "chef special" dish as well as samosas and rice and of course some beer to wash it down. All in all a great meal!
We had planned on walking around a bit to wear off dinner but when we left the restaurant it was raining so we instead hustled back to the hotel which was fine as we both were pretty exhausted from all our walking during the day.
Sunday morning we dragged ourselves out of bed around 9 and headed down to breakfast. Having decided that we didn't do enough walking Saturday we decided to wander over to the Jewish Quarter and do some exploring. The streets were bustling with people as we lost ourselves in a maze of side streets. As we were walking down one road Betsy suddenly stopped and let out a little shriek....CHOLULA!! Sure enough in the window of the store we were walking by were bottles of Cholula. For those unfamiliar, cholula is a spicy pepper sauce in a similiar vein to Tabasco. Since we have left home we have not been able to find it or anything really equivalent (except Tabasco) over here. We immediately went inside and bought a bottle! Good score!
After our great purchase we wandered across the river and up the hill to a park that had caught our eye. At the top of the park we saw a large billow of smoke in the distance followed soon after by an increasing number of sirens. We decided to head in the direction of the smoke but after walking for blocks we could no longer see smoke or figure out where the sirens were coming from. Of course the smoke had taken us even further from the area of our hotel so we wandered slowly back to the hotel but not before stopping at a great little restaurant and sharing a breakfast burrito for lunch (w/requisite margarita's of course).
The burrito was great but the margarita was average (and expensive $7USD!). Now Betsy and I have been known to enjoy the odd cocktail so I tend to be quite picky when we go out for cocktails. I feel like I make a great Martini, Manhattan, Margarita & Mojito. Hmm...I never noticed all our favorite cocktails start with an "M". Anyhow I rarely find any of my favorite cocktails are made as well by bartenders as they are by me with that being especially true of Margaritas. Most bar Margarita's use sweet & sour mix or margarita mix which makes the margaritas too sweet.
Sunday night we headed out to the Bombay Cocktail Club for a couple of drinks before dinner. Betsy had a couple of margaritas that weren't bad, I had a manhattan and a martini both of which were not great. The manhattan was made with some whiskey I'd never heard of and had way too much sweet vermouth and the martini was worse as it tasted more like olive juice than gin. But the bar was cool and we had a good time. We were starving by time we left and had planned on hitting a Provencal restaurant we had seen but had a last minute change of heart and decided to hit the italian place we had visited Friday night instead. We had another great meal there before retiring for the night.
Monday was travel day. Breakfast, packing, some shopping for Betsy, pizza for lunch then a car to the airport.
It was a great weekend and I would highly recommend Prague to anyone. Prague was clean, cheap, friendly people, english was widely spoken, great beer and excellent restaurants.
